Black Heart
by xenowriter
Summary: The story behind Garrus' investigation into Dr. Saleon
1. Chapter 1

"Keep moving, human." Garrus ordered to the male in his custody. The Turian C-Sec Officer was already aggravated by the mixture of both the negative comments that the suspect gave him during the arrest at the Markets and the navigation through the crowds of the Wards to get him back to Headquarters.

"I'm moving as fast as I can, man!" The male in custody snapped back sharply. "You Turians sure like to pick on us humans! I'm sick of this! We won the war, skull face!" He stumbled as he was unable to keep up with the Garrus' quick pace from behind.

"_Again with this?"_ Vakarian rolled his eyes. He almost wished he had a cred chip for every time a human accused him for being racist and in addition, they had to throw in how the Turians were "defeated" in the War. Garrus would like to think that the humans didn't win, but they were appeased by the Council and it was a ceasefire. Despite the Relay 314 Incident being twenty-four years ago, the humans always seemed to bring it up like it just happened to get their way. "_Their glorious victory,"_ The Turian mused and almost couldn't keep the smile from spreading across his tiny lips.

The Turian at the processing desk lifted his head from the data pad he was reviewing previously to greet the arriving officer. "Well, well, Vakarian. Another one already today?" The officer was darker grey in skin tone and unlike Garrus he didn't have any markings on his face to present his clan. He was what was known as "bareface" to the Turian culture and usually the barefaces were distrusted among their species. It was very unordinary for a bareface to hold a position at C-Sec because of the rumors.

"Another one?" The man laughed in anger when he stopped in front of the desk, he turned his head back to his captor. "Let me guess, a _human_ too?"

"Disorderly Conduct." Garrus ignored the man's comment as he addressed the other Turian.

"Disorderly?" The man shouted back even more furious as he pivoted around to have more direct contact, but before he could manage even a sixty degree turn on his heels, Garrus grabbed both of his arms and slammed him down over the desk knocking data pads all over the floor. The processing Turian wheeled back in his chair somewhat surprised by the change of events.

"You really do not want to make this harder do you?" Garrus kept the man pinned with his lower body weight as his talons remained gripped firmly on the arms.

"You treat all the prisoners like this or just us?" The man spat as he desperately tried to turn his head to the side to look up at Vakarian as best as he could.

It took every ounce of will power in Garrus at that point to keep himself calm. "Listen, I witnessed you threatening a local vendor at the Markets. That act is classified as Disorderly Conduct despite _what_ species you are. Now, are you going to relax or do I need to add more charges on you?"

The male disregarded Garrus' request and kept his body tense as he turned his head to the right side to finally get a better look up. "Sure! You just said that because he was a _Turian_ vendor," He scoffed. "What about theft? Huh? Fraud? That up there somewhere?"

"We already went over this up at the Markets," The arresting C-Sec officer sighed. "I found no evidence to show that the vendor stole your money. Your bank statement revealed you made a purchase; however, it does not state what item and the vendor's rules are reasonable in that you have to have a proof of purchase to support a claim for a refund."

"That wasn't told to me!"

"It was on the proof of purchase at the time of sale, if you had _kept_ it.

Regardless, it still doesn't justify in you threatening his life over it."

"I'll let the Terra Firma party know about this injustice!" Irate, the man struggled more this time, almost catching Garrus off guard, but he tightened his talons causing the male to scream in pain.

"Put him in the holding cell and I'll get the paperwork done." The other officer replied as he pointed to the temporary holding cell located across the hall.

"My pleasure," Garrus lifted up his prisoner not giving the man a chance to get his footing as he half dragged him across the hall to the holding cell. Once the door slid open, he wasted no time and shoved him inside. He wasn't going to wait on a chance for the male to put up a fight with him.

The male stumbled into the cell barely falling over and then wheeled back around at Garrus one last time. "I'll get my attorney and sue! This is abuse!"

"Be sure to give him my name, human." Closing the door, Garrus Vakarian let his finger rest on the door security control panel and took another sigh of relief. Some days he really hated his job…

Passing several officers questioning victims for reports, Garrus walked as swiftly as he could towards the area of C-Sec which contained his desk. Sometimes he didn't know what was worse, working behind the desk or being out among the people. After today, he would choose the former before the latter. The humans were yelling racism after every arrest, but what good example have they presented to the Academy for officer potential? Harkin? "Drunken bastard…" He grumbled under his breath replying to his own question. Sorting through the data pads that were on his desk about minor reports he worked that day for his review, his blue eyes paused at the holo frame of his father that was set properly and precisely on the right corner edge of his desk. His eyes lingered on the image: His father standing proudly in his C-Sec uniform decorated with badges and pins of every distinct honor there could ever be on the force.

Before he had time to really drown himself in the comparison between himself and his father, a familiar voice spoke over the edge of his desk. "Glad to see you that you're finally back at your desk, Vakarian."

Looking up, a beige color Turian with white facial tattoos chuckled at the young Turian officer sitting behind the desk. "Lieutenant Chellick, what brings you to this part of C-Sec? I thought you were on your way to becoming a Detective."

"Heard that you like pissing off humans." Chellick smirked, "Well at least that is what I hear on the streets."

"I am only doing my job!" Garrus growled defensively, slamming his fist on the desk.

"Ease up, Rookie."

"Harkin can get away with beating suspects during interrogations, but I raise my voice to one human and I'm being too 'rough?'" Clenching his mandible, Garrus looked up at the fellow officer.

"That's because Harkin has the special protection of the Council," Chellick rolled his eyes. "You don't get the same luxury so cool it or Pallin will be all over you." Slipping a data pad from his uniform coat, he slid it across the desk before the young officer. "Take a look at this and give me a preliminary report of your findings in 1400 hours."

It only took Garrus a few seconds to skim over the pad before setting it back down. "Black market?" The tone of his voice indicated that he was appalled by the assignment.

"Could be serious," Chellick protested as he stared right back at him.

Aggravated and feeling like it was a blow to him and more red tape, Garrus scooted back in his chair from the desk in disbelief. "Am I being demoted?"

"Pallin just wants you to lay low for awhile until the Terra Firma party backs off. His office has been slammed with complaint calls. I won't lie to you; the members want you reprimanded immediately."

"I _am_ being demoted," Garrus shot back. "I don't believe this." He stood up from his desk, knocking the holo image of his father face down. So much for standing up to his father's standards.

"Where are you going?" Chellick asked in bewilderment, completely caught off guard by Garrus' reaction to the request.

"I'm going to have a chat with Pallin about this assignment. Excuse me." He sidestepped around the higher ranking officer, but found himself blocked as Chellick moved into his path.

The other Turian's golden pupils stared right back at him. "Think about what you are doing, Garrus. Don't be a hothead."

"I know _exactly_ what I'm doing, Lieutenant." Garrus sized him up as he kept his fists clenched. "Research is what officers do coming out fresh from the academy; I think my years with the force show that I'm more qualified than this assignment."

"Fine…" Chellick cupped his face with his hand in defeat. "You know what? Leave from your shift, and go to Flux for a few hours. But you come to _my_ office afterwards. I'll give you the report and I'll put in the request to make you the investigating officer in charge. Will you at least do that?"

Hesitating for a few moments, considering the urgent request of his fellow comrade, Garrus nodded his head in silent acceptance. He leaned down and punched a few keys into his terminal to sign himself off duty. "Why are you doing this, Chellick?"

"I think you're a damn good officer and I think you are making mistakes bucking heads with the Executor." Then the beige Turian smiled, "Besides, if your case is serious enough it may be turned over to my sector for further investigation."

"You like to work the angles don't you?" Garrus muttered as he walked passed to head out to Flux.


	2. Chapter 2

The repetitive beat of Flux could be felt near the Upper Markets as Garrus made his way up from the C-Sec Academy that evening to the club. His attire was less "stylish" than his uniform, which sported the usual Turian design: Long light colored sleeves down his arms and pant legs. The somewhat tight fitting material easily gave away his natural sharp anatomy. He discarded the eye piece that usually adorned his avian face to hopefully not give his occupation away. Even though Chellick told him to come to the casino to relax, Garrus changed the request to more of an undercover opportunity. He would give the impression that he was simply there to enjoy himself just like the rest of the patrons, however, the feign would not be able to fool him.

He gave a slight nod to the bouncer who acknowledged him as he passed through and took one side glance to the somewhat small dance floor that was packed with a mixture of Asari, and Humans. One rarely saw a Turian dancing especially out in public. The tables to his left were occupied by the same mixture but also Salarians and one Krogan who sat alone. The mature, yellow skinned large alien eyed Garrus suspiciously as if masquerade didn't fool him at all. Garrus made brief eye contact, but then continued his way up the steps to the upper part of the club. The short fat Volus, known as Doran to everyone who had been on the Citadel for years, eagerly greeted him, "Greetings, welcome to Flux."

"Good evening, "Garrus gave a curt nod.

"May I interest you in some Quasar? I was able to purchase new machines. They are located towards the front." The Volus fervently responded in between rasps from his respirator.

"Hopefully I'll get lucky." Motioning his head in the direction of the new machines, Garrus walked over and fished out his cred chit from his pants pocket. Inserting the chit, the device gave a few musical tones and then the display lit up with the numbers. After several sessions, it appeared that luck clearly wasn't on the Turian's side after all. If he walked out soon, he would leave with just the same amount he walked in with…or less.

However, his neighbor about three machines down started to catch his interest. It was another Turian, dark brown skin tone and bare faced. The male seemed to have worse luck than Garrus did. "Come on…come give me somethin!" The bare faced growled in frustration as he impatiently pushed the bet button again…and again. Yelling out in anger, the Turian shook the machine, "No! You can't do this to me!"

Clearly the Turian's behavior was catching the attention of several gamblers in the area, but Garrus noticed luckily for the unruly visitor Doran had made his way down stairs to greet customers at the bar counter. "Easy…" Garrus called over to the dismayed Turian. "I don't think Doran would like you shaking the machines like that. " He made a quick look over to the other's screen to see that he was at least one hundred credits in debt; not a bad loss, but still not an amount that he himself would like to lose in one night. "Rough night?"

"You don't know the half of it-"The Turian winced in mid sentence as he moved his hand down to his right side and cradled it there.

Garrus caught onto his movement right away. "You need medical attention?"

"No…just…old wound that's all." The Turian pounded the machine lightly with his fist in defeat as he turned and casually strolled down the steps to exit the club without drawing too much attention to him.

Ejecting his cred chit from the machine, Garrus stuffed the item back into his pants' pocket before following the troubled male. Something didn't appear right at all, but just as he exited the club, he noticed the other had quickened his steps and gained more distance on him. Afraid by increasing pace to scare the Turian away, Garrus mentally noted the image of his face and made his way back down the steps towards the C-Sec Academy. Relaxation was done for the day.

Lieutenant Chellick was already waiting for Garrus in his office that night when he showed up. "There you are, Garrus. How was Flux?"

"Struck even," Garrus rolled his head some to stretch out his neck muscles. "Any luck on the Black Market?"

"Better than what you did." Chellick tossed a data pad across the desk to him. "While you were out playing….I was able to schedule an item pick up from one of the known dealers. Just got the results back from the DNA tests."

Garrus scrolled through the results briskly but stopped when the DNA profile showed the picture of the same Turian he stumbled upon at Flux. Chellick noticed his facial expression. "What's the matter?"

"I saw this Turian at Flux. Something was not right about him."

"What do you mean?"

"He needed money…and was horrible with the Quasar machines. He also seemed to be guarding his side like he was in pain however I didn't see any wounds."

"That can't be right…..are you sure it's him?"

"I'm damn right sure!" Garrus' voice rose. "Lieutenant, are you sure the report is accurate?"

"I have no reason why the lab would mess this incident up. I know you're thinking the same thing I am. The sale was for a Turian heart…how in the hell is he still alive?"

"Only one way to find out…" Garrus handed back the data pad. "Bring him in."

Chellick nodded. "You grab his file and find whatever information you can….I'll dispatch two officers to his residence."

A few hours Garrus received a communication on his terminal that C-Sec took the Turian known as Hunal Sphyrius into custody. He was actively being held in the third interrogation room. Garrus skimmed once again through the information he was able to pull up and then hurried off for the questioning.

When he arrived, a rookie officer saluted him and allowed entrance. Sphyrius didn't appear to be calm at all. He was sweating profusely and he was nervous. When Garrus entered the room, the captive looked behind him. "What's going on?"

"I need to ask you some questions." Garrus casually walked around the table and took seat across from the other.

"I-I know you….at Flux!" Sphyrius spoke up quickly. "If Doran said I damaged the machine…"

"Relax," Garrus raised his hand to stop him. "You are not under arrest. I just want to ask you a few questions."

"About what?" The Turian leaned back more into his chair in a very awkward forced casual position.

"Sales have increased in the organ black market aboard the station. One of the goods we were able to possess, a Turian heart, has been identified in having the same DNA as you. However, clearly this has to be inaccurate because here you are….very much alive."

"Last time I checked, you had to have a heart to live," Sphyrius gave a nervous chuckle and readjusted his position in the chair. "So you brought me here to just to make sure I wasn't dead?"

"Actually I brought you here to see why you are still living."

"Well, the results have to be wrong. Can I leave now?" The brown Turian started to rise up from his chair, but Garrus stopped him as he punched a few buttons on his omni tool.

"The tests were done three times to rule out the possibility that the I.D. was in error." Garrus noticed that his detainee froze by his words. "Says here…" He re-averted his eyes back down at the device. "…that you work for Dr. Saleon. Is that correct?"

"For about four years now…just what exactly are you getting at?" The Turian's defenses were being placed up.

"Dr. Saleon is a geneticist aboard this station; known to have radical research into cloning organs. Have you noticed any unusual procedures in his lab? Test subjects? Illegal cloning of organs?"

"Look, I'm a courier at his facility. I don't know much about his research. But I do know that he is a good doctor and very well respected!" Sphyrius' voice rose in anger, his words cut off as he let out a cry. He grabbed his side with his hand winced in pain as his mandible tightened. "Fuck…."

"Are you okay?" Garrus stood up some to get a better look at the dismayed Turian.

"I'm fine….just let me go now…" The other responded through clenched teeth. He rose up his hand and it was covered in dark blue blood with the same liquid oozing out from the side of his outfit.

"What the hell happened?" Garrus noticed that the blood was profusely coming out of Sphyrius' side, dripping down on the floor below his chair. "Medic!"

"No….I'm fine…I just need to go rest…"Sphyrius stood up from his chair, stumbling to exit the room , but the rookie Turian officer outside heard Garrus' request and came rushing in blocking his path.

"What's going on, Garrus?" The younger officer asked in alarm.

"I don't know…he just started to bleed out while I was questioning him. Call Dr. Michel from the Med Clinic, tell her to come here immediately."

"Easy. Just stay here until she arrives." Garrus placed his arm on the wounded Turian although he quickly moved away. Sphyrius was only able to take a few more steps before he fell onto the ground with a pool of blood forming under his torso. "Damnit…." Garrus stepped over him to the wall outside the room to grab one of the medigel packs. Applying it, he knew that the pack would help stop the bleeding and ease his pain until medical attention arrived.

Moments later, Chellick and Dr. Michel both ran into the room in a panic. "Garrus, what the hell did you do!" Chellick demanded, his eyes wide as he looked down upon the now pale Turian. Dr. Michel was already down beside him, tending to his injuries.

"It wasn't me. He became tense when I brought up Dr. Saleon, then suddenly he starts to bleed on me. " Garrus mentally noted that the wound was on the same area to which Sphyrius was guarding earlier at Flux.

A soft groan escaped from the Turian's mouth below as he was coming to. Dr. Michel tapped her omni tool. "Vitals are looking better, but he needs to come to my clinic." She instructed in a thick Earth based Slavic accent.

"No…." Sphyrius argued faintly and then he sat up quickly in a panic. "No! I can't go! I need to get out of here!"

"Easy…you are not well. If you do not seek medical attention immediately, you will die," The red haired woman coaxed him as she tried to keep him from getting up.

"I can't!" With a quick shove, he knocked the doctor onto the ground as he forced his body to move up from the floor. Garrus and Chellick both rushed to keep him down. "Let me go!" The Turian's eyes were wide as he struggled violently against them.

"Dr. Michel, can you calm him?" Garrus grunted as he tried his best to keep the terror filled Turian down.

"Yes…one moment." The doctor reached into her lab coat pocket to retrieve a syringe. She maneuvered herself carefully to the right side of Chellick and injected the needle into the rampant Turian's leathery neck skin. Seconds later the he was out cold. Garrus and the Lieutenant both got off of the floor, relieved.

"Why would he freak out like that?" Chellick panted to catch his breath. It had been awhile on the force since he had to use that much force to restrain a prisoner.

"Something is not right." Garrus pivoted on his foot to face the doctor. "I want a full examination of him immediately."

"Sure thing, Garrus, but it will take a few hours for all the results to come back."

"Make it no more than two." He then motioned the other Turian officer outside the room to follow him from the interrogation unit.

"Where are you going now, Vakarian?" Chellick shouted after him from the room's doorway.

"To Dr. Saleon's lab to see what I can find!" Garrus answered back as he continued to walk.

"You need a warrant!" The Lieutenant chased after him.

"Then you better hurry up with it!"


	3. Chapter 3

"Everyone back away from your terminals. " Garrus barked to the medical staff as he and two other Turian C-Sec officers entered Dr. Saleon's lab. The facility was located near the Lower Wards within walking distance to the nearest docking station. An ideal location for the transport of black market organs Garrus suspected.

The staff, which included several Asari and Salarian tech complied, but with some hesitation. After the area was secure, Garrus motioned each of his accompanying officers to a particular area to begin the inspection. Giving a look over to make sure no one was going to try to destroy evidence; Vakarian walked to the center of the room and brought up the scanner on his omni tool.

"Wait…wait!" A red Salarian stormed into the room in a panic state. He waved his arms to catch the officers' attention. "What is the meaning of this? This is a sensitive area!"

"Relax, doctor. This is an official C-Sec investigation, "Garrus addressed him, raising up his hand to stop him from getting any closer and interfering. "Just let us do our jobs and we'll be gone."

"What kind of investigation?" Dr. Saleon blinked his eyes. "I have all the proper paperwork that is mandated by the Citadel Council."

Garrus watched the Salarian's eye movements and facial expressions to catch if the doctor would slip up and make this search a whole lot easier as he responded, "We believe that this facility may be used for the current black market organ trade."

"Preposterous!" Saleon snapped back defensively. "What proof do you have? Where is your warrant?"

"Lieutenant Chellick is on his way with the order, doctor. If you want to wait for him that is fine and we'll just stay here or we can continue and be out of your way." All eyes were on the two waiting to see who would back down.

Garrus remained calm as he stared down the doctor wondering what his move would be next. Doctor Saleon seemed really tense when he barged out of his office…he had to be hiding _something_. "Fine, just be quick about it, "The Salarian replied surprisingly and a look of shock came across Garrus' face. Definitely not the answer he was expecting…

Peering behind him, Garrus sidestepped and move toward the doctor's lab. "Thank you, then I'll check in here if you do not mind." He casually looked back to see if there would be a protest.

Again he was deceived. "No, by all means. Please continue your investigation. I'm willing to cooperate with official Citadel Security protocols." This time Saleon's demeanor changed…almost laxed.

Sitting down at the desk, Garrus began to search the drawers one by one…hoping to find something, but nothing was jumping out at him. All the data pads had legit information on them about gene therapy, DNA reconfigurements, anti-recessive traits theories, but nothing that would pinpoint that the doctor or his colleagues were conducting some type of organ cloning for the black market. Growling in frustration, Garrus redirected his attention to the main terminal on the workstation that was unlocked. Apparently, it appeared that the doctor was working on it prior to him barging in. Maybe he would find something….

Gliding his talons along the keypad quickly, he searched each file index. Oddly, the names of each file did not summarize what the document was about…instead they were all in numbers…randomly with no chronological order. It was very suspicious, but that was no proof that the doctor and his staff were doing anything illegal. Opening a few, going down the list, the search was no better than it was through the desk drawers. Each file contained similar research designs and theories….a few were about particular species' anatomies, but that was not concrete evidence to arrest him on. He glanced over the terminal's monitor to stare out into the opened lab and saw Dr. Saleon standing in the middle of the room looking right back at him with his fish like eyes. The Salarian blinked once more and then finally broke the staggering silence, "Is this going to take much longer? Have you found what you are wanting?"

"I may…" Garrus retorted as he looked back at the terminal daring not to show the displeased look on his face. Of course he was lying; the evidence just wasn't there as he hoped.

"Garrus." A familiar voice called from within the room. Lieutenant Chellick arrived with the warrant in his hand. "Anything?"

"Not a damn thing…" Vakarian admitted as he stood back up from the chair and walked back into the main lab. "He has to be hiding something…."

Chellick let out a sigh and glanced back at the doctor who this time looked to be infuriated. "Are you done? I'm losing valuable research time for his nonsense."

"My apologies, doc tor." The Lieutenant apologized as he motioned for the officers to follow him out.

Garrus, on the other hand, wasn't about to let this opportunity to slip through his fingers. He never had been wrong on his intuitions and something about the lab was unsettling to him. "I know you have more data, doctor…"

"I have nothing of the sort! What crime has my lab committed?" Saleon inquired.

"We collected a sample that was used in a sell and traced its DNA back to one of your workers."

"Garrus…" Chellick cautioned, seeing the temper rising in the young Turian officer before him.

"Still, you have no proof that I was ever involved." The Salarian countered calmly.

"Confess, doctor! I know you're hiding information!" Garrus shouted as he stepped forward to cut the distance between him and the Salarian.

His aggressive posture made the Salarian step back. "Garrus, that's enough!" Chellick scolded as he grabbed Vakarian's arm pulling him away and out of the lab with the others.

Once they were far enough from the medical facility, Chellick stopped in his tracks and he pivoted on his toes to address Garrus, who was moping along behind him. "Just what the hell are you doing, Garrus?"

"Conducting _my_ investigation, sir." Garrus clenched his mandible as he emphasized the salutation with sarcasm.

"Yeah? What if Saleon decides to press an official complaint with the Executor? You purposefully ignored C-Sec guidelines!"

"What if I was right, Lieutenant? Then what? If I did adhere to C-Sec guidelines, then Saleon could have-"

"You _were_ not right, Garrus!" Chellick interrupted him. "When are you going to act like a Turian instead of a human?"

The question caught him off guard. "Sir?"

"Good Turians follow their orders…and your orders were to investigate the sales of Black Market and to abide to the rules. Not roughing up suspects and ignoring regulations like Harkin."

Clenching his fists as rage filled him from the remark; Garrus coldly stared back before he walked past the Lieutenant to head back to his office.

Back at his work station, Garrus angrily typed in his password before checking his messages. A few nearby officers paused in mid conversations as his talons thumped away on the keyboard, but then decided it was best to ignore him and go about their business.

However, the search into Dr. Saleon was one thing that Garrus was not going to ignore even if it _did_ mean butting heads with the Executor. He pulled up his file that he complied so far and reread his notes.

"Sir?" A grayish skinned Salarian stopped at his desk moments later.

Garrus instantly recognized by his uniform that the Salarian was part of the Academy's forensics staff. "You…you said you wanted the results of the subject's tests once they were completed…" The Salarian responded timidly and held out an OSD.

"Thank you, "Garrus took the miniature disc and inserted into his terminal's reader. He took a few breaths while the disc was being scanned to help relax his composure. The terminal brought up the results on Sphyrius and a sick taste built up in his mind as he reread the detainee's vitals….DECEASED. A knot formed at the pit of his stomach as he scrolled through the medical records. The admission status into the med clinic confirmed that Sphyrius was hemorrhaging from the abdomen and the cause was unknown. During diagnostic scans, they discovered that his internal organ structure varied from a normal Turian by the fact that Sphyrius had duplicate organs.

Sphyrius was pronounced dead about ten minutes at his arrival at the med clinic. An autopsy was done immediately once the scans were finished. The results determined that the organs that were duplicate had failed growth. He had a misshapen liver, a small extra heart and lung. The staff also noticed he had a surgical incision that was fresh near his side to where the possibility was that some type of surgery was done a few days before he was taken into custody.

"That sick bastard is not growing organs in his lab…he's growing them in his own people…" Garrus mused out loud as he read through. Standing up quickly, he checked his hand gun and then tapped onto his communicator ear piece. "Chellick come in."

"What is it?" The voice came through the other side.

"We need to get back to that lab, Lieutenant."

"Garrus…." The voice sighed.

"He's _using_ his own people for the test tubes!" His voice strained in between breaths as he ran quickly as he could down the steps towards the garage to get a transporter.

"We didn't find anything!" Chellick protested.

"Damnit, Chellick! I just read the file back from Sphyrius' med report! That sick son-of-a bitch had spare parts all inside him!"

"Wha….how in the….I'm on my way! Don't do anything stupid, Garrus! We need to take him into custody!" The Lieutenant ordered back, but Garrus already put his communicator on silence. To him, now was not the time for more red tape.

Flying around the daily Citadel traffic, Garrus pushed the transport's regulated thrusters as far as he could. He could hear the engine whining as he pulled the vehicle into dangerous dives and turns. He had to get back there…he had to. The map on the dash chimed indicating he was nearing his destination.

Suddenly a thunderous boom shook the transport and he looked ahead to see fire….an explosion! Dipping the vehicle drastically, Garrus felt his stomach creep into his throat as he landed just a block away from the site….Dr. Saleon's lab! Not worrying about a perfect landing, he heard the sickening screech as the vehicle's tail end made contact with the Ward's level and he climbed out of the driver's seat. Several people were on the ground crying, their bodies charred from the blast. Some unlucky civilians who passed the lab just at the wrong moment. Rushing towards the blazing inferno, Garrus hoped to salvage some documents…but the flames were too hot and it deterred him away.

Panicking, he began to run around the complex to look for another entrance. A small groan nearby made him stop as he looked near a pile of debris and saw one of the Asari techs lying there. A piece of the building's structure had fallen onto her back and a small stream of blood oozed from the corner of her mouth. She was dying. Rushing to her side, Garrus tapped the Asari on the head to get her to focus to him. "Where is he?"

"I….I need help…" The Asari pleaded weakly.

"Where is he? Where is Dr. Saleon?" Garrus shouted impatiently.

"The…the docking area….he-he promised he would take us…" She gasped in between breaths as she tried to arch her back to get the heavy piece of material off, but it was a useless struggle.

"No…" Garrus knelt back up as he looked in the direction of the docking port. Just how much time did he have left? "Medical attention is on their way…" Without even looking back down, Garrus leaped to a sprint as he pumped his leg muscles as hard as he could to get to the docking station, which was about eight blocks away from the lab.

"Out of the way! C-Sec!" Garrus shoved the dock workers from his path as he desperately ran towards the only ship that was at the port: A C Class frigate. It was larger than a shuttle for Relay transport, but small enough to allow a few passengers and one pilot. Tapping in his communicator as he ran, he said, "This is Officer Vakarian. I need an emergency lockdown on Tiberius Station Dock 52."

"Unable to comply with the request. The vessel has already detached from the magnetic mounts." The response came through.

The vessel began its departure routine as it backed away carelessly nearly colliding with another vessel that was approaching the dock. "Fuck…no!" Garrus watched helplessly at the empty port. Tapping his communicator again, he readjusted the frequency to all interstellar vessels. "This is Officer Vakarian of Citadel Security. Unknown Vessel from Dock 52 return immediately or you will be shot down."

Surprisingly, Dr. Saleon himself responded, "Stop me and the hostages will die!"

"Those workers are victims of your sadistic experiments, Doctor. " This time there was no retort back and the vessel was gaining more distance and was beginning its ascent into the black space above.

"C-Sec, this is Officer Vakarian. I am requesting that Unknown Class C Frigate to be shot down with force."

Several seconds past by and the frigate was becoming smaller and smaller to Garrus' vision. "C-Sec, do you read?" The tone rose in his voice. "I am ordering that you shoot that vessel down now!"

"Belay that order, C-Sec." Executor Palin's voice came through in an answer. "Officer Vakarian, we will not fire upon that ship."

"Damnit, Executor! That is Dr. Saleon and he is using victims as living test tubes!"

"He has hostages with him and we cannot risk their lives, Garrus."

"They are dead anyways! For once listen to me!"

"No, for once you _are_ going to listen, Officer Vakarian! If that ship is shot down, there will be multiple Citadel casualty lives in the process down below. I have alerted all patrolling ships to let him pass. Is that clear?"

"No, sir…" Garrus growled through his teeth.


End file.
